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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: pass · bark · file · clip · row · fork · swing · capital

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. capital — money
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. swing — to play on
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. file — a document
  7. file — a line of people
  8. clip — for paper
  9. swing — music
  10. fork — in a road
  11. clip — to cut
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. row — a line
  14. clip — a video
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. swing — in golf
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. capital — a city
  20. row — to paddle
  21. pass — a permit
  22. bark — to shout
  23. file — a tool
  24. bark — of a tree

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com